You HAVE Somewhere to Wear That: Holiday Party Bling

For holiday inspiration, each year, I return to author Jeanette Winterson. Though her childhood was difficult, Winterson still loves Christmas. She embraces it, and Hanukkah (for her Jewish partner), their rituals acting as meditative space. This is the season of sacred time, when we escape (even for a parenthetical moment) Time itself. And every year, Winterson rereads Dickens's A Christmas Carol as part of that meditation.

I also reread Dickens--and Winterson's own collection of stories and recipes, Christmas Days--every year. 

But annual holiday parties are another of my favorite rituals. Of course they're about boozy eggnog and candle light, but they're also a time to check in with friends I sometimes see only at these events and always in their finest garb. All those times when someone says wistfully, "I wish I had somewhere to wear that" . . . that Time has finally arrived. We want to be part of these festivals of light, have our own apparel match the sparkle of faery lights and the glow of fireplaces. 

And our finery, the jewels with which we adorn ourselves are, like A Christmas Carol, "texts" that "meet our changing selves." I choose my holiday outfits, sometimes unintentionally, as tiny, beautiful meditations on how I understand my "updated self." One year, I wore my wedding gown with vintage cherry earrings and necklace, embracing my first married holiday season by bringing together something old and something new. (Of course, my engagement ring was from Isadora's--similar to this opal halo ring.) The year I broke my ankle, I wore fabulous purple tapestry boots with a very low heel, prioritizing comfort without sacrificing beauty.

 But jewelry is really where we all get to shine: where we release ourselves from practicality or self-consciousness, both listen to our "updated" selves and incorporate tradition. You break out your grandmother's garnet and pearl festoon necklace, the one she always wore, and finally feel "old enough" to wear them. You get yourself the diamond earrings that remind you of Myrna Loy in The Thin Man because you've always wanted them and your bonus was good this year. The "text" of your go-to Little Black Dress changes when you pair it with a Victorian pendant and earring set in shapes reminiscent of stars and snowflakes: a night sky lit with old-mine and rose-cut diamonds. (And your true love got you that diamond bracelet, too!) 

Another year has passed. You are different, and the same. You return to the jewelry that makes you feel special, seek out the jewelry that perhaps commemorates a new facet in your own personality. But most of all, we love our holiday bling because this is the time we get to wear it, shining with others, our brooches and baubles like the ornaments and candles around us, like the stardust of which we all are made. 

Shop our fantastic Latest Arrivals, and find your own version of holiday bling!